Mourners remember victims of 2000 plane crash

As the late-afternoon sun hung low in the sky while the clear sound of a tolling bell vied with the splash of nearby waves breaking on the beach, about 80 family members, rescuers and people from the community held hands around the Hueneme Beach memorial sundial. They were remembering 4:22 p.m. Jan. 31, 2000, when 88 people lost their lives on Alaska Airlines Flight 261 as it crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island, the result of a catastrophic mechanical failure.

Dawn Germain, along with mother and father Leslie and Gene Batdorf, said they make the trek from the Seattle area each year to honor the memory of Germain's sister Kirstin Mills. Mills was a flight attendant on the plane.

"We feel such a sense of community with these people," said Mills' mother, Leslie Batdorf. "We discovered each other through tragedy. This is a place we can come be ourselves. We don't have to worry about making anyone else uncomfortable."

Gene Batdorf said he always misses his daughter, who would have been 38 this year, and the ceremony allows him a small measure of peace.

"We come here to honor her. You never get used to it, but you learn to live with it," he said. "This helps to be close to her, in her memory. We wouldn't achieve that by staying home. The hardest day is always when we have to leave."

Steve Campbell was the chief of police in Port Hueneme when the tragedy occurred. Now living in Seattle, he comes each year to the sundial memorial, which features the name of each victim of the crash. Each plaque was decorated with a single white rose and an electric votive candle that was lit as the sun set, along with personal items from family members. Flowers, blue, white and purple, decorated the middle of the sundial, which features jumping dolphins.

"Alaska Air asked me to work with finishing the sundial project, and now I continue to come here as a volunteer," Campbell said.

Eric Beach of Simi Valley said he was with the Coast Guard when members got the call that they were going out on a search-and-rescue effort shortly after the plane had gone down.

"Our station responded, and we immediately went out there," Beach said, adding that as the night wore on and it became obvious that there were no survivors, it was very hard on everyone. "It's something I'm not going to forget. There was the hope that we were going to find somebody."

Ararudh V. Prasad of Seattle said he doesn't have to do too much to organize the annual event because the families of the victims of the crash have formed a community. Prasad lost his brother Anjesh Prasad, 19, and two cousins, Avinash Prasad, 19, and Amid Deo, 21.

"We always look at life day by day and rush, rush, rush. We don't stop to smell the roses," Prasad said. "Here, we actually do smell the roses."

He then grabbed three long-stemmed white roses and headed from the sundial to the water's edge where others had gathered to stick their roses and some red carnations in the sand, creating a line of flowers as the waves washed around them.

Connie Bailey, manager of the Surfside II apartment building across the street from the park, said she will never forget when she first heard about the crash.

"I remember being at work and I had the television on," she said. "I have been here every year. I feel it's something I'm obligated to do."

Port Hueneme Councilwoman Sylvia Munoz Schñopp said she was employed by AT&T at the time and she was one of the first responders charged with making sure cellphones were working and that people could communicate. She said it's important to remember the crash and its victims.